Rewind
by Sensu
Summary: after dying naruto is given a second chance at life. going back to 5 years old he starts all over. this time things will be different and he'll be strong so that none of his loved ones will have to cry...


**Note : starts directly after the battle at the end scene.**

(stuff in _italics_ is what happens inside the kyuubi's prison)

**Rewind**

Chapter One : Final Moments

_Some people are meant to die,_

_meant to make their loved ones cry._

It was painful...but at the same time a strange sort of release; all the burdens, every hate filled word, the times that seemed to hold so much grief, they were all gone. Nothing mattered anymore except the anticipation for the next stage, death.

Oh, he knew there was no denying the fact that he was not going to live through this. At the very moment his senses were dulled which was actually the best gift that could have been givin too him, it numbed the pain to a point were it was now bearable. Nothing but this single moment mattered anymore.

He couldn't feel the rain pounding against his broken body though he could hear its rhythmic fall and the sound of it beating against the forest floor. He could smell its crisp, fresh scent mingled with the dirt near his face and he just watched as it washed away the blood that covered the ground around him in a crimson pool, wiping away his life's greatest necessity as if cleaning a slate clean. If every a scene was so sad and serene at the same moment it would be this one.

His once tan skin was now a unnatural pale shade of white, his whiskered cheeks a gift from a demon that was locked inside his very soul, lips curled up softly into a peacefully smile. Naruto's life had always been hard and painful, death was his escape, it was his way of leaving behind all the evil and getting a new start.

Soaked blond spikes clung around his head in a mop, bits of dried blood and mud sticking to it, marring the usually sunny, gravity-defying locks of gold. His hand was clutching something, blinking Naruto tried to see what it was but his vision was becoming even more bleary as the end was slowly becoming nearer. Summoning his last bit of strength he moved his thumb along the objects surface, tracing a mental picture of it in his mind. It was Tsunade's necklace.

A single crystalline tear rolled down his cheek, immediately becoming washed away by the steady rainfall that continued to cry with him from above. Pulling his hand to his heart with a small whimper as pain shot through his body at the movement, he held the necklace there remembering all his precious moments with his older sister. Yes, that was what the Godaime had become to him, a sibling that no matter how bad things got could always cheer him up or at least make it so things didn't seem so bad after all.

Images of all his precious people floated through his head, each in their own way a part of his family. Naruto would never forget any of them, even Inari back in wave country still had a place in the blond's huge heart.

'_I'll...miss you...all_.' Slowly everything faded away; the rain, the forest, his heartbeat. His body was now just a shell, nothing more than a husk of what it had once been.

_Naruto was in the familiar chamber again, the puddle at his feet mirroring his reflection, the ever constant presence of the demon watching him in the shadows with crimson eyes that never faltered in their intensity_.

_"Why am I here? I thought I died" he asked, gazing down at the puddle with a confused look. He was exactly the same as he always was, the orange jumpsuit not showing any of the rips and stains from the battle and his skin completely flawless, none of the wounds there any more. _

_"You are but I want to make a proposition with you" the demonic voice said, its nine tails waving around its body lazily as the fox laid in its cage, head on its paws as it gazed over at its vessel through the bars. "Do you want a second chance?"_

_"What do you mean? Like bring me back to life?" Naruto wasn't really sure if he wanted to do that, if he returned everything would just be the same as it always was...painful and sorrowful. He couldn't take any more of it, there was only so much a heart could take._

_"In a sense yes but not in this time period, for it to work I would have to restore you to your child form, in other words bring you back in time to a period when you were alive. Its dangerous and will require me to use at least eight of my nine tails which will take a long time to recover from but it can be done. So?" _

_"No" was the blunt reply the blond's usually bright cerulean eyes were now a dull blue, gazing at the floor in defeat. "There is nothing for me in this world, what good would doing at all over be. Reliving the pain a second time is not my idea of a good plan."_

_Two crimson orbs focused on in a cold stare,"I had a feeling you would say that kit but your wrong. People care about you and need you...if you do it all again you can make it better, change everything so that this time it all works out okay."_

_Naruto snickered, a dark smile contrasting sharply with his golden features,"no one will care trust me...there better off now that I'm gone. No more loudmouth getting in the way, no more dead last that only takes up room. I was just a pain and now they don't have to worry about me any more, a load off their minds."_

_The kyubi looked at him sadly, its nine tails drooping as it heard its vessel talk so lowly about himself like that; the self pity and loath were not like him at all. "You're wrong...oh so very wrong kit. Just watch for a second and observe."_

_Suddenly a image rippled onto the puddle at Naruto's feet his eyes going wide as he recognized the people in the scene. Getting down on his hands and knees so he could see better he watched them in sadness, fighting down the urge to cry remembering he'd never be able to see them again._

"Tsunade...Tsunade you need to snap out of this...there is nothing you could have done" Jairaya said as he stepped into the dark, gloomy office of his old team mate. Every piece of furniture was destroyed, some pounded so much they were now a fine sawdust. The hokage stood at the window, looking down at the village in a mixture of disgust and sorrow, her eyes glistening even though no tears fell.

"I failed him...he was like a little brother to me and I failed him. I knew something bad would happen but I let him go...I let him go." Now she was freely crying, her shoulders shaking as the supressed sobs wracked her body.

Jairaya took her in his arms, patting her back as she cried into his shoulder, letting out all the pain over the blond's demise. He sighed, a single crystalline drop trailing down his cheek from a brimming eye. The two sannin remained like that, both consumed in grief over their lost family member, only left with each other now.

_Naruto watched the two in silence, a turmoil of emotions coercing through his body as he looked down at his precious ones in pain. He knew his death would have some impact but never had he imagined they'd take is like this...it was like they'd lost a brother or something. That's when he realized they had. _

_Hands clenched into fists on the wet concrete, his cerulean blue eyes began to glisten and a single drop fell on the puddle under his head, sending out a ripple that blemished the image, clearing to show a new scene had appeared on the chamber's floor._

_'_No one cared...they were actually happy that he'd died...couldn't they see that Konoha's light was gone.' Hinata walked blindly through the streets, letting her feet carry her wherever. It didn't matter anymore, her mind was completely numb in shock, her body moving on its own as her senses were paralyzed in disbelief and grief.

She was just walking without any intent of stopping, the sound of people's voices washing over her in waves but none of their words registering. Then she heard someone say his name; the name that should have brought so much joy and sunlight, now only brought a fresh bout of pain as his memory cut like a blade against her heart. Freezing in her tracks, the hazy fog slowly lifting as her surroundings came into focus.

A group of men stood off to the side of the street, all looking smug about something as they laughed at a personal joke.

"So the traitor Sasuke actually gave us a little going away present, the demon vessel's dead body" the biggest of the men cackled sadistically,"might even throw a celebration for the monster's death."

Hinata didn't know what possessed her to do it but a second after the words had escaped the man's mouth she was right in front of him in a flash. With all the strength she had her fist collided with his jaw, the impact sending him to the ground on his back. Holding her now thobbing hand gingerly she glared at them with such a intense look of hate they shuddered under her gaze.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTHS ALL OF YOU! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOUR SAYING. NARUTO-KUN WAS A HERO, WHO SAVED YOUR WORTHLESS ASSES COUNTLESS TIMES AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY HIM! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELFS." Hinata screamed, face turned red as her whole body shook in rage.

The men backed away mumbling about crazy Hyuga bitches as they retreated, not wanting to pick a fight with the clan's heiress no matter how worthless she was.

Hinata sunk to her knees in the street, tears that wouldn't come before now streaming freely without stop from her pure whit eyes. "Its not fair...Naruto-kun...ITS NOT FAIR!"

:FLASH:

In Suna it rained for the first time in months, the desert sand turning a dark shade of brown as the water dampened its tan color upon contact. In the downpour a lone figure stood holding a red umbrella as protection from the steady fall of water from the cloudy sky. He watched the rain through dark, cold eyes, the water beating against the shield in a steady rhythm.

The report had come in a couple days ago. The number one loudmouth of Konoha, the kyuubi no kitsune's vessel, Uzamaki Naruto...was dead. Gaara refused to talk to anyone about it, not even his siblings could comfort him in his present state of depression.

Blinking in surprise he felt something wet on his face, reaching to his cheek he drew his hand back to inspect the water in curiousity. Looking upward he didn't see any hole in the umbrella, the soft caress of water flowing down his face once more

"Am I...crying?" he asked in confusion. Tears continued to fall down his face despite the fact that his insides were a numb blankness. Gaara felt as if he should feel something, but his mind was just a empty void, his body responding to feelings that weren't there but should be. The tears fell to mingle with the rain drops, wetting the desert ground in their sad embrace, signifying the end of something and the rebirth of a new beginning.

Gaara stayed like that for what seemed forever trying to realize what was missing and then it hit him and the pain that should have triggered the tears came when there was no more to shed. His only true friend was dead...the only person who had ever understood the loneliness and sorrow of a demon vessel was gone. Gaara was alone.

Dropping the red umbrella to the ground he let the rain wash over him, soaking through his kazekage robes to chill his wet skin in its cold touch. Red hair hung in damp clumps around his head as his face was pinched in sadness, usually lifeless pale eyes now wide with pain.

"I'm all alone now...Naruto...why?" he whispered to the rain as if asking for a answer to his question, when none came he glared at the sky above in defiance. "Why?"

Thunder boomed above and the downpour came down in bucket loads now, responding to him in its own way. Gaara bowed his head down, standing completely still in the rain not even caring anymore about the fact that his clothes were clinging to him heavily or that he would probably catch his death if he stayed any longer. He was alone...and that was all that mattered.

:FLASH:

Sakura laid in her bed, face buried into her damp pillow as her body shook in heaving sobs. Emerald eyes were swollen red from crying so much but she couldn't stop, it was like her body was responding only to her heart and ignoring its minds plea to cease. Fingers clutched her blankets so tightly they turned white, her tear stained face holding a look of pure anguish and heart break.

"Its all my fault...I shouldn't have let him go...I shouldn't have made him promise to bring Sasuke back..now I'm all alone" Sakura cried out, pounding her fist into the bed before collapsing in a spent tired heap. The soft sound of rain pounding on the roof lulling her into a fitful sleep.

_"Stop it..STOP IT!" Naruto yelled slamming his fist against the water's surface as tears fell from his horrified cerulean eyes. "I don't want to see anymore."_

_The giant fox gazed at him sadly, a single tail reaching through the bars to comfort him in a gesture that could only be equaled to that of a parent calming its child._

_"I'll do it...I'll go back and make this right" Naruto said his watery eyes now blazing with the raw determination that usually shone in them._

_Kyuubi blinked at him, the flame in his crimson eyes reviving with his vessel's renewed spirit. "There is a condition but you won't know until it happens...there is no real way of knowing so not even I can tell what it will be."_

_Naruto nodded standing up strait with a final glance at the puddle as darkness wrapped around him, swallowing the blond boy in its chilly blackness. His only comfort was the fact that he would do it right this time around...he never wanted to see his loved ones cry again._


End file.
